11.07.2009

It’s too bad that the concept isn’t more far-fetched than it is, wouldn’t you say?

Wake up and smell the roses already.

Do I have your attention yet?

Good.

If you have a job, you’re one of the lucky, gas prices are slyly inching back up, food prices never came down from last year’s disaster, and none of this stimulus stuff seems to have any effect at all. The weather, the politics, the news, the weather, the politics… In self defense, the head goes up the back door and there’s only room to focus on getting through one day to see another.

Does it have to be this way?

No.

But, you’ll have to come out of your little protective shell a bit more to find that out for yourself.

You see, everyone is just sitting around waiting for politicians to dig us out of this mess. Do you think the ones that got us into this mess can now fix it?

The blind leading the blind.

It’s broke. It’s broke beyond repair, especially when all the attempts at repair are nothing more than cheap, generic-brand band-aids.

I can hear you now: “Oh jeez, what can one person do?”

My answer: “Everything.”

You are the center of your world. Everything you do radiates out from you as the center, 360 degrees. Everything you do affects everything around you.

Everything you do begins within, with how and what you think. How and what you think is shaped by what you feel in your heart.

9 comments:

Couldn't have said it better but how do I get my welfare neighbors to see it that way? Seriously, there are 3 able bodied adults out of 5 living in one house and they all collect some kind of 'entitlement'.

The old man that owns the house ran over his daughters feet with one of those scooters. The house is so filthy that she winded up getting a serious infection and lost one leg and 3 toes on the other leg.

Of the other 3 able bodied adults - none have a drivers license. None have a high school degree. The youngest just dropped out of school with what I guess are ambitions of a future disability entitlement which he may get due to all the lawyers willing to tell him how and fight on his behave.

Meanwhile my family and I keep getting up before the sun shines and get to work so our neighbors can all sleep in until noon and be as lazy as possible and call us at 5 in the evening for a ride down to the store. Needless to say I am the one they hate to have answer the phone!

In any case...yep, I will continue to make a difference when I believe my efforts aren't being wasted!

There's a lot to think about when it comes to your neighbors. As part of a "marginal" group, there is little positive input of any sort in their lives. Basic things like housework are the sort of things learned strictly in the home, and if it doesn't happen, then it perpetuates generation after generation. You don't see much dusting, vacuuming, mopping or laundry done on TV, nor will you see diaper changes, baths, showers or the like. They are just living in the only way they know how.

One thing that most people don't realize is that the monies that fund public assistance, food stamps, WIC, Medicaid and Medicare make up less than 11% of the national budget. The biggest outflow of all of our tax money goes to what I call business welfare. I would much rather spend my tax dollars on helping people than I would on businesses that turn around and exploit, abuse, throw away and then cry when we can't afford to buy the products we make.

You can make a difference. Find the strengths, the positives in your neighbors, then reinforce them. Grow the positives and ignore the negatives.

"From within, you can change the world." This line reminds me of the quotation from Gandhi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Indeed, whatever we want to see in the world, we need to start seeing it within us.

Oh believe me Theresa...I have tried and tried to help them turn their lives around over the years but nothing has ever worked. At one time the youngest was having trouble in school so we paid for him to go to a private school with hopes that it might help break the pattern. At that time I was driving him to and from school every day. All I required was that the boy take a shower in the morning and wear clean clothes. At first all went OK but a few months into the year he quit doing it and his mother stopped enforcing it. The smell was more than I could take being closed up in a truck with and my repeated reminders was more than they were willing to comply with. He eventually quit and went back to public school.

We sent electricians over there this week because one of them told my father they were afraid the house was going to burn down. The electricians refused to stay because of the roach infestation.

I don't think anyone can help them because they are so unwilling to help themselves at all. It's sad in a way, but it makes me too angry to bother putting myself out anymore.

Boon, I have always appreciated Ghandi's wisdom, and the Dalai Lama's teachings as well.

Rebecca, you've already done far more than most people would do. It is admirable. Though you may not see immediate results, you have impacted the family in ways you might never see or anticipate.

One way that I deal with defeat in situations like yours is that everything is a matter of choice. They have to decide for themselves that they want to change. I also offer my help with no expectations of taking it or conditions or returns. That way, I am never let down by giving. Sometimes, it's just a matter of sitting and listening and doing nothing more than that that helps the most. So, try not to be angry. They are the ones that have to live with their choices, not you. OK?

I came to that decision a year ago. Which is why they hate when I answer the phone at my parents house. My parents have become the ones they seek to meet their needs now and that is what really upsets me because I know the things they spend their money on while they seek to have their needs met by others. grrr